05:05 PM EDT, 04/04/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Nasdaq Composite entered a bear market on Friday as China announced retaliatory tariffs and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell flagged inflation risks from the ongoing trade war.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 5.8% to 15,587.8, finishing the day in a bear market, characterized by a decline of at least 20% from its peak. The S&P 500 tumbled 6% to 5,074.1, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 5.5% to 38,314.9. Energy plunged 8.7%, as all sectors posted losses, including a 6.3% drop in tech.

The three indexes closed sharply lower on Thursday. For the week, the Nasdaq sank 10%, while the S&P 500 shed 9%. The Dow was 7.9% off on a weekly basis.

The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed duties on several countries, including China, which responded Friday with its own retaliatory tariffs of 34% on US products.

Canada will match the White House's recently announced 25% auto duties with a similar tariff rate on vehicles imported from the US that don't comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal, Reuters reported Thursday, citing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

A prolonged uncertainty surrounding trade tariffs may pull the S&P 500 down to as low as the 5,000 level, UBS Securities said Thursday.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) shares dropped 7.4% Friday, among the worst performers on the Dow, along with Apple ( AAPL ) , which fell 7.3%. Tesla (TSLA) tanked 10%, with other mega-cap technology stocks Amazon.com ( AMZN ) , Microsoft ( MSFT ) , Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), and Meta Platforms ( META ) also closing lower.

Tech companies may be heading into "dark days" as President Donald Trump's new tariffs could reduce earnings by at least 15%, making trade negotiations a pressing priority, Wedbush Securities said.

"If these (US) tariffs went into place at current form, overall tech earnings would come down 15% at least, the supply chain will be a Rubik's Cube rivaling COVID days, and the economy would go into a recession/stagflation," the brokerage said.

"To the many investors coming into the (US) and investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change," Trump said in a Friday social media post.

US Treasury yields moved down Friday, with the 10-year rate dropping 5.3 basis points to 4% and the two-year rate decreasing 7.7 basis points to 3.65%.

Powell said that Trump's tariffs will likely drive inflation higher and slow down US economic growth.

"While uncertainty remains elevated, it is now becoming clear that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected," Powell said. "The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth."

West Texas Intermediate crude oil sank 6.5% to $62.58 a barrel Friday.

"Oil prices have sold off heavily as the market deals with a potential demand hit from tariffs and a surprise supply increase from" the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies announced on Thursday, ING Head of Commodities Strategy Warren Patterson said.

In other economic news, the US economy added 228,000 jobs in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The consensus was for a 140,000 increase in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate increased to 4.2% from 4.1% month on month.

"Given the ongoing efforts to shrink the federal government and rising trade uncertainty, we suspect that job growth is likely to soften over the coming months," TD Economics said.

Gold slid 2% to $3,057.90 per troy ounce, while silver slumped 7.5% to $29.58 per ounce.

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